Children are being left without decent adult role models because of the
decline of the traditional extended family, according to a leading
headmistress.

Schools are increasingly being forced to offer lifestyle advice as children grow up without regular contact with grandparents and “wise aunts”, it was claimed.

Helen Wright, incoming president of the Girls’ Schools Association, said parents were often under “tremendous pressure” as they struggle to bring up children alone in the face of modern commercial pressures.

The comments come just weeks after a Government review recommended that new mothers and fathers should be given parenting classes.

Frank Field, the former Labour welfare minister, said courses should be “offered as routine” to help them handle children’s behavioural problems, emotional changes and support their education.

Mrs Wright, the head of St Mary's Calne, the private girls’ school in Wiltshire, said teachers were increasingly seen as a source of advice and lifestyle guidance for children.

“Many wonderful advances have been made over the past few decades, but what we don’t have in the same way any more is this extended family, providing grandparents and wise aunts to tell children things,” she said.

“It is absolutely essential, particularly for teenagers, to have other adult mentors.

“During this journey through their lives, from being a baby to being an adult, they need to develop more of a perspective on life and they gain that from trusted adults; be they school teachers, be they family members, be they people you work with in the community.

“That’s our socialisation, that’s how we move through from childhood to adulthood and start to understand the world.”

She added: “Our society has lost that from a family perspective. Greater geographical mobility is absolutely great but the downside of that is that there are fewer family members around.

“So schools have a very valuable role to play in that respect, particularly boarding schools.”

The comments came as the GSA, which represents 200 top fee-paying schools, prepares to publish a book of parental advice in January.

The guide – Your Daughter – will offer a range of help on educating and raising girls, including food, divorce and separation, cyber-bullying, social networking, internet safety, friendships, stranger danger, homework and choosing the right school.

A website established by the organisation has already been set up.

The GSA said the move came after many parents approached schools asking them for help in dealing with day-to-day issues affecting girls, such as body image, drugs, celebrity role models and the influence of the media.

Mrs Wright – the 2011 GSA president – said: “Parents, especially if they are having their first child, can feel very alone. This expectation that somehow just one or two people are responsible for the entire future of a child can lead to tremendous anxiety on the part of mothers and fathers, particularly given the commercial pressures placed in modern teenagers.”